Re: pg_ctl idempotent option

Alvaro Herrera <alvherre(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com> writes:
> Tom Lane wrote:
>> Peter Eisentraut <peter_e(at)gmx(dot)net> writes:
>>> Here is a patch to add an option -I/--idempotent to pg_ctl, the result
>>> of which is that pg_ctl doesn't error on start or stop if the server is
>>> already running or already stopped.

>> Idempotent is a ten-dollar word. Can we find something that average
>> people wouldn't need to consult a dictionary to understand?

> --no-error perhaps?

Meh, that's probably going too far in the direction of imprecision.
The point of this patch is that only very specific errors are
suppressed.

I don't have a better idea though. It'd be easier if there were
separate switches for the two cases, then you could call them
--ok-if-running and --ok-if-stopped. But that's not very workable,
if only because both would want the same single-letter abbreviation.

regards, tom lane